


wolf howling at the sun

by ryswell



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cersei is a Stark, Different Houses, F/M, Happy Cersei, Ned is a Lannister, house swap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2019-05-25 15:58:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14980553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ryswell/pseuds/ryswell
Summary: Her betrothal is announced to the court and Cersei doesn’t look in Eddard Lannister’s direction the whole time though she can feel his eyes on her.Wherein Cersei is a Stark and Eddard is a Lannister.





	wolf howling at the sun

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve had this idea for a while and just enacted to get it out of my head. 
> 
> In this AU Cersei is Lyarra and Rickard’s second child and therefore older than Lyanna and Benjen. Ned is Tywin and Joanna’s eldest son, Jaime and Tyrion both younger than him.
> 
> This needs edited I know but I just wanted to get it posted!

Cersei Stark didn’t want to wed Eddard Lannister and had told Jon Arryn as much when he proposed the idea. Arryn seemed to think that because he was an old friend of her father’s and had fostered her younger brother, Benjen, for perhaps a year before the war that that meant he had some authority over her.

 

“My father and brother and sister have been dead a year,” Cersei reminds him as cold and fierce as a winter storm. “Surely a man so honourable as yourself would let a simple woman like I some time to truly mourn?”

 

Arryn smiles at her and Cersei imagines he thinks it’s a fatherly one. You’re of age to be my grandfather, you fool - perhaps that’s why Hoster Tully hadn’t allowed his eldest daughter to wed Arryn. It was good for Catelyn her father waited - she was Queen Catelyn Baratheon now.

 

“Lady Cersei, I think we both know you’re not at all simple. And have you not just come from Winterfell after moons of mourning with Lord Benjen?” Arryn asks her with that damned smile again. Is it meant to comfort her? Truth be told, Cersei would rather just throw him out the infamous moon door.

 

Cersei pushes her dark hair over her shoulder and gives Arryn a harsh look. “Do you mean to say that after a few moons I should get over the grief of losing my father, brother and sister, Lord Arryn?”

 

He laughs as though the idea is simply ridiculous. “Of course not! I didn’t know Lord Rickard and his children so well as you, obviously, and I doubt I shall ever truly get over my grief, Cersei.”

 

Cersei takes a deep breath. “I shall wed Eddard Lannister but you best tell him and his blasted, child-murdering father that I will be visiting Winterfell and my last remaining sibling whenever I see fit, Jon.”

 

“As you wish, my lady,” Arryn accepts with a nod before leaving to wherever the hell boring, useless men such as he go off to.

 

* * *

 

It is only a moon or so later before her betrotehal is announced to the court and Cersei doesn’t look in Eddard Lannister’s direction the whole time though she can feel his eyes on her.

 

That night when Cersei is forced to put up with Queen Catelyn and her ladies gossiping about all the men at court, including Ser Eddard.

 

“He’s not so handsome as his brother Ser Jaime,” Leyla Hightower, little wife to Stannis Baratheon, whisperers to Mina Tyrell-Redwyne.

 

Mina nods with a smile. “Perhaps not... but he is a great deal smarter.”

 

“Eddard is not so brave, though,” a Bracken girl reminds them. That was true enough, Cersei supposed. Jaime Lannister had given up his honour to kill Mad Aerys, saving the city and it’s people from being burnt to ashes. The hero of the city, he was named, already there were songs about him.

 

If only he had saved Princess Elia and her babes then mayhaps Prince Oberyn wouldn’t be shouting about rebelling against King Robert in young Viserys’ name. The plan might’ve worked if Viserys was not being raised by the king’s brother at Storm’s End and his little sister, for the time being, at court. Now, Daenerys was already betrothed to the new queen’s brother as a reward for Hoster Tully’s loyalty.

 

Yes, the young Targaryens had lived only because when Robert sent Stannis to Dragonstone to ‘capture’ (everyone knew he meant kill) the Queen Rhaella and her children Tywin Lannister had sent his son along too. The men got there in time for Rhaella to write her will which asked her son and his line keep the title of Lords of Dragonstone and both her children be cared for by Robert like the family they were to him.

 

Viserys and Daenerys has lived but in their place Rhaenys and Aegon were brutally murdered as a show of loyalty by her betrothed’s father. In most cases Cersei believed the ends justified the means but not in this case, not when just weeks before that Cersei had travelled far to find her sister Lyanna in the impossibly warm mountains of Dorne birthing a child that Lyanna would never know - but neither would Cersei, for the boy died a week later.

 

When she, Howland and Wylla went to Starfall to give Ashara Dayne back her brother’s body and sword, Ashara was kind enough to bury the unnamed babe beside his cousin, a stillborn girl born from Ashara... and Brandon. Cersei hadn’t ever gone back there and never did she plan to.

 

So, perhaps she wouldn’t be as horrified by the murders of Rhaenys and Aegon but when she saw the bloody remains of the children she couldn’t help but think that could have been Lyanna’s boy.

 

Cersei doesn’t like having regrets even if her father told her that no one is perfect and everyone has made mistakes - but she is absolutely certain that nightmares of Lyanna’s boy in a state like Rhaenys and Aegon were shall haunt her dreams until her dying day.

 

* * *

 

Cersei is sent to the Rock a moon before her wedding and after a week she is honestly considering jumping from the cliffs.

 

Eddard has been kind enough when he even shows up - when she first got here he was in bloody Dorne, making peace with the Martells in his father’s name. Ser Jaime was at King’s Landing being the heroic knight of every maiden’s fantasies and that left the imp, Tyrion.

 

The boy was perhaps ten, not so much younger than Benjen actually. Tyrion had impossible dreams and he was both too world-weary and too innocent, in Cersei’s opinion. In one week he’d went from wanting to become a sailor, a dragon rider, a maester, a king and a singer. Tyrion amuses her though and was happy to tell her all the castle talk, good and bad.

 

As for the others... Kevan was annoying and his smiles towards her always seemed quite forced, his wife Dorna was kind enough and the same age as Cersei. Genna Frey was perhaps the most insufferable snob Cersei had ever met and during their numerous dinners together Cersei spent much of her time deciding which golden knife would be best to slit her throat with.

 

Tygett Lannister wasn’t there as much but happy to moan and groan about Tywin so he wasn’t all bad, and his wife Darlessa was only too pleased to have someone else to talk with who didn’t like Lady Frey. The youngest brother was Gerion, closer to Cersei’s age than Tywin’s, Gerion was almost as bothersome as his sister with his stupid smile and japes.

 

Lord Tywin was a matter entirely of his own. He’d barely spoken to her in truth, once he had offered his condolences and spoken very briefly of what a good man her father was and how he didn’t deserve the fate he met.

 

Neither did Princess Elia, Cersei almost replied with a sweetly smile before remembering what little Tyrion said; Lord Tywin is a god amongst men and those at the Rock are taught to never forget it.

 

Eddard wasn’t much a god, really. Yes, he was always dressed immaculately, he seemed wise enough and he was seemingly honourable and chivalrous - after all, he needn’t have gone to the Martells himself. Cersei supposed be didn’t look all that bad - his hair a dark-gold colour and his eyes a dark green. He was tall, much more than she, and he looked strong.

 

Not completely handsome like Jaime but neither was he, well, the Imp.

 

Eddard arrives at the Rock a week before their wedding with dozens of Westermen lords. “To see the heir of the Rock wed is a grand event for them all,” he tells her during one of the rare moments they have alone.

 

Obviously, she almost remarks before biting her tongue. Cersei can play at being the willing wife until she finds her time to strike. “Yes, I understand. Father told me that all the North would attend my brother’s wedding...”

 

Why did she bring Brandon up? Brandon and damned Queen Catelyn’s wedding was meant to be the event of the year. Now he is in the crypts and she on a throne.

 

Curse the Tullys, she thinks, because it’s easier to have someone alive to blame.

 

* * *

 

Her wedding feast is... well, the food is rich and has been imported from each kingdom. The decorations are fancy and quite lovely. Her dress is admittedly very beautiful and the bridal cloak the Lannister women made for her has brilliant stitching - perhaps better than the maiden cloak of white and grey she made herself.

 

The guests have come from far and wide. Obviously, all the Lannisters and Westermen have gathered in Casterly Rock’s Great Hall. King Robert and Queen Catelyn, whose stomach seemed to have a slight swell, were here with their respective families. Oberyn Martell was there, as were Tyrells aplenty. Even Balon Greyjoy has come with his eldest son.

 

All these and yet, not a single Stark bar Cersei herself was here. Her mother had always dreamed of going to she and Lyanna’s weddings yet the sickness she got after birthing Benjen had throw those dreams away; Father and Brandon were gone and Lyanna with them.

 

Benjen has wanted to come and Cersei knew that from the tear-stained letter he sent her. Except, he’d found out Lady Lysa was with child and wanted to make sure everything was perfect for his babe’s arrival. Only fifteen, Cersei thinks, he’s too young to be a father.

 

The Stark men’s absence had caused another problem - who would walk her down the isle of the sept and then the path of the Godswood. Just as Cersei was about to walk down on her own Robert Baratheon himself had proclaimed that as father of the realm and her almost-goodbrother he would give her away.

 

Perhaps he wasn’t so bad, but Cersei didn’t think about it too hard.

 

As for her husband... Eddard had been gentle when he kissed her in both the sept and godswood and had danced well enough with her. He’d also danced with some other ladies and spoken to some men - just as any other man would, really.

 

Cersei too danced, though perhaps more than her husband - he was truly her husband now... and she was a Lannister! She had barely sat down after dancing with Oberyn Martell when men began shouting for the bedding.

 

She knew what was going to happen and so Cersei simply closed her eyes and tried not to think about what would happen when the door closed behind she and Eddard. Men were ripping at her gown and when one dared to touch her hair Cersei slapped his hand. They all laughed but her hair wasn’t touched again.

 

Finally she is left on the bed with only her night gown on and Cersei takes the hair from her pins, letting it fall into soft curls. She doubted Eddard cared whenever her hair looked nice but she did, and in her opinion that was what mattered most.

 

Eddard is dropped off into the room by a dozen or so squealing and giggling ladies and Cersei rolls her eyes.

 

They stand in silence for a long while, both barely clothed. Eddard walks to her and begins kissing her. He isn’t too bad a kisser, she thinks. Cersei closes her eyes and doesn’t think anymore.

 

* * *

 

It’s not yet a year after her wedding that Cersei begins to grow large with Eddard’s child. “I’ll give you a son,” she promises over and over. He replies, each time, that he cares not whether it’s a son, so long as the babe is health - and has her eyes.

 

Yes, Eddard Lannister wasn’t so bad.

 

He let Cersei decide things and everyone knew he greatly respected her opinion on all matters, even if he didn’t necessarily agree with her every time. He could be too kind and merciful, in her opinion, but then, he’s never seen a winter, never seen that sometimes mercy must be left behind in the place of reason.

 

When the day comes where she labours so very hard for hours upon hours and it feels like she will be stuck in this pain for eternity and then some - Cersei is remembering her mother, who died due to a sickness she got from childbirth, and Lyanna, who died having her son, so far from home.

 

If I die, she wonders, will they place me in the crypts?

 

I want to see Winterfell, Cersei thinks and she is sobbing and if she were in a better mental state then she’d be thankful Genna Frey wasn’t commenting on her crying. I want to see snow and I want to feel the wind.

 

Then, she remembers she is a wolf, a Stark, the daughter of Rickard and Lyarra.

 

I will see Winterfell, she tells herself, commands herself. I will taste a snowflake again, I’ll feel the icy wind on my face.

 

Cersei finally pushes a screaming babe and she is thinking of dying, of the crypts - but that gives her strength, as the crypts always have. When the wet nurse tells her she has birthed a baby girl Cersei takes a moment to sink into misery but crying tears of utter joy because her child is alive and she will ensure it stays that way.

 

They decide to name her Sansa, for one of the granddaughters of Cregan Stark who had their inheritance stolen from them. Cersei, if the gods don’t give her sons, will not let the Rock and the West be taken from Sansa.

 

Sansa takes after Eddard more with her blonde curls the colour of the sun and her already tall frame and her lighter skin and sharper features. A Lannister, except for her eyes which were grey as Winterfell’s walls.

 

Eddard is completely in love with their little girl and not once does he bring up having a son - a true heir, Tywin might say - because Sansa seems to be perfect to him. The whole castle loves her, in fact, all but it’s lord - Cersei cares not one bit what Tywin bloody Lannister thinks though.

 

Sansa is three when Cersei becomes pregnant once more because, yes, Eddard often sleeps in her chambers. This time, the pregnancy is harder but the birthing itself is far less painful and much swifter.

 

Tommen Lannister is born as the sun is rising and the whole of the West seems to celebrate, even Lord Tywin has a smile when he comes to visit his first grandson. Cersei smiles when Eddard stops his father’s talks that finally his heir has an heir of his own. Sansa shall always be their firstborn, the babe that brought them closer together.

 

Their son looks much like their daughter - golden curls and greyish eyes, though Tommen’s are flecked with gold.

 

Sansa is simply delighted to have a younger sibling and Cersei wonders if her mother was thinking the same when Brandon first held her. She wonders what Brandon would say about being an uncle. Cersei is crying before she can truly imagine it - he’d absolutely love it, she knows that much.

 

“He’s small,” Tyrion notes when Cersei and Eddard show him his first nephew. He is fourteen now, and has decided to become both a maester and a poet. “More than Sansa was.”

 

“Indeed, brother,” Eddard agrees, hugging his brother, who is smiling down at little Tommen.

 

Cersei has a smile of her own when she looks at her goodbrother and husband. “Perhaps, Tyrion, you might be maester in time for the next babe..?”

 

“There shall be another?” Eddard asks with such joy in his eyes Cersei almost hugged him right then.

 

“If you like,” is all she says before smirking at him and going to the nursery where Sansa was.

 

* * *

 

When Sansa is five and Tommen two Cersei becomes with child once more and after nine moons of wondering why her belly was so bloody big, she gets her answer; she was carrying twins.

 

A girl and a boy, both looking like the small dollies Sansa so loved to play with. The girl they named Myrcella, an old Lannister name, which is ironic because Myrcella is the least Lannister looking of all for children; her curls are a dark red, almost bronze, and her features are all Brandon but for her bright green eyes.

 

They name the boy Brandon, Bran for short. Perhaps Cersei would have named him Rickard but Benjen’s boy, who was coming seven soon, was called Rickon, obviously in memory of their father. All Cersei can hope for Bran is that he shares Brandon’s personality and nature - but not his fate. He doesn’t look all like his uncle, looking like Tommen but his smile is so much like her brother’s it’s hard to see sometimes.

 

Eddard simply adores the twins, always carrying them both around and speaking to them as they could possibly understand him.

 

Perhaps Jon Arryn didn’t wrong me so, Cersei wonders. Not that she cares what happens to Arryn these days, all she knew was that he resigned from the title of Hand of the King to care for his heir, a young boy whose name was Hardying, who was Jon’s great-great-nephew or something.

 

Arryn has no heirs of his own after two marriages, the only babe’s he ever gathered were stillborn. Cersei wouldn’t almost think he deserves it after meddling with everyone else’s lives - but she won’t ever forget the little body of Lyanna’s boy which was so cold compared to the heat of Dorne.

 

 

 

Cersei and Eddard had been wed for over a decade when they get a letter from the new Lord Hand Hoster Tully asking if they would consider giving Sansa’s hand in marriage to Prince Osmund.

 

“I don’t like those at court,” Eddard admits to her in a whisper one night when they are in one another’s arms. “You cannot trust anyone there. I don’t want Sansa to have to deal with that.”

 

“She needn’t be on her own,” Cersei suggests, putting a hand on his cheek. Oh, how she loves to play the game. Eddard despises it which was odd considering his father was something of a master at it. “Send Bran too, the whole damned castle knows he wishes to be a Knight of the Kingsguard like his Uncle Jaime.”

 

Eddard nods, apparently considering it. He looks so handsome when he’s deep in thought, Cersei thinks with a smile. “Perhaps. And the Tyrells have been wanting to foster Myrcella and you were right earlier when you said we should begin thinking of matches for Tommen.”

 

Cersei, ever happy to be proved right, grins. “Myrcella is a lovely girl and she shall flourish in the Reach, even if the Tyrell heir is a little old. As for Tommen, wasn’t Lysa writing us about perhaps joining our houses?”

 

“Tommen and Benjen’s girl, Arya?” At her nods he continues. “Yes... perhaps. You’re getting at this sort of thing than me, love. I just hope that wherever are children are they are happy.”

 

Cersei agreed with him and lays down against his chest. How funny was it to think that once she had despised the thought of being a Lannister. That’s not to say she loves everyone at the Rock, or even particularly liked them but she has made it known this is her home now and one day she will rule the castle and most people have accepted that.

 

Those who haven’t... they matter not to Cersei.

 

“Goodnight, Lady Lannister,” Eddard says with a kiss to her hair before he begins to snore.

 

Cersei Lannister. It wasn’t as good as Cersei Stark - which would always be her name, honestly - but it wasn’t so bad as it could be. Cersei Lannister, Lady of the Rock.

**Author's Note:**

> I know Cersei seems a little OOC but put this to her being raised very differently and also being in a healthy marriage!!


End file.
